After yet another Premier League capitulation none of us really wants to look forward to the next few games, so let’s just take a wild stab in the dark and assume we’ll finish up the season with more beatings than Basil Fawlty’s car and leave it at that.
Let’s instead look to the summer. What to do with the players we have. And no, we can’t run our own version of The Hunger Games or The Purge.
But one thing I think we all agree on is that seismic change is required.
The last time we came down there was the sense that if we kept a few key cornerstones like Emi Buendia, Teemu Pukki and Max Aarons, coupled with trusted leaders like Tim Krul and Grant Hanley, we’d have a good shot at going back up, and so it proved.
This time around I think we’re all a lot less optimistic, and that’s without having yet sat through the dying embers of another torrid season. This is a summer window that requires revolution, not evolution.
Balanced against that is practicality. As much as we can all take a look at our squad list and say “Get rid, get rid, get rid” to 90 per cent of those who have disappointed and underperformed, to move them on would require another club to be interested, and I’m guessing we’re not going to be fighting off offers left, right and centre.
Neither are we going to have a massive war chest to buy replacements, unless we manage to sell the one or two assets we do still have that possess value in the market.
So I’m going to have a stab at what I’d suggest, by breaking the players into groups. Feel free to disagree (I’m sure you will).
End of Loans
- Billy Gilmour
- Ozan Kabak
- Brandon Williams
- Mathias Normann
Easy start, all returned to sender. At one point I thought that even if we did go down, £11m on Normann – if it could have been rustled up – might have been a potentially profitable investment whilst we have the inside track of an option to buy, but that seems a long time and a loss of form ago now.
Sell or Let Go
- Max Aarons
- Todd Cantwell
- Akin Famewo
- Josip Drmic
- Sebastian Soto
- Tyrese Omotoye
- Lukas Rupp
I love Max, but he needs a fresh start and we’ve held him back too long. Probably our biggest remaining asset and we could do with the cash, although it won’t be anywhere near what we could have got for him a couple of years ago.
Cantwell’s option will hopefully be picked up by Bournemouth. If not, I struggle to see a scenario where he turns out for City again, so Stuart Webber needs to make a move happen.
The others are obvious releases. Rupp isn’t a bad player at all but at the end of his contract I question whether he’s part of the future or just getting in the way of young players coming through. Harsh maybe, but I wouldn’t renew.
Actively seek to sell
- Ben Gibson
- Przemyslaw Placheta
- Jordan Hugill
- Dimitris Giannoulis
- Christos Tzolis
- Pierre Lees-Melou
- Kenny McLean
- Kieran Dowell
- Reece McAlear
- Josh Sargent
- Adam Idah
In an ideal world, I’d like us to find new homes for all of these players. In reality, a lot will still remain and may well do well in the Championship but for varying reasons, I’d like to sweep them away.
Gibson can obviously still do a job in the Championship, but he shouldn’t be starting over Andrew Omobamidele and neither should he be on a Championship bench earning the wages we are paying him. If we can find a taker get him off the wage bill.
Placheta, Dowell and McAlear are just not good enough. Hugill still needs a forever home with a team that plays to his strengths, and that won’t be us.
Giannoulis would be the obvious starter at left-back, except for the fact that other clubs abroad covet him. We can recoup some of what we paid for him, and we have a ready-made Championship-quality left-back already in the building in Sam McCallum. Could well be one of Webber’s easier bits of business to do.
Tzolis is another who may not prove difficult to move on. He may still have admirers on the continent who will like the idea of purchasing his promise at a young age at a much-reduced cost to the one we forked out a year ago. I can’t imagine the physicality of Rotherham away, for example, is going to mesh with his skill set, so if we could get a halfway decent offer I’d grab it enthusiastically.
Lees-Melou, like Rupp, and indeed any of our midfielders, isn’t a bad player, but after being here a season I couldn’t tell you what role he actually fulfills. We have a collection of reasonable footballers who are neither defensively solid or creative. If we can get a reasonable offer I’d move PLM on for a younger, cheaper option that can provide more at one end of the park or the other, rather than be below average at both.
McLean has won the Championship twice. While he isn’t the root of all that’s wrong with us in the way that some believe, we’ve clearly reached a point where Kenny is more a part of the problem than the solution. The criticism he receives won’t be lost on him, and he looks jaded. The feeling persists that he’s a player that can tick along when things are going well but folds like a red hot Mars bar when things get tricky. If we can find a new home it would be best all round. I suspect that won’t be easy though.
Sargent, like Tzolis and Giannoulis, may retain some of the market value he had a year ago and so now would be the best time to cash that in. While he might be worth more at his level, in the Championship his value will diminish and we should cut our losses on a player that we shouldn’t realistically consider taking into the PL again.
Idah is possibly the most controversial name on the list. For years he’s been seen as the next big thing from the academy and scored for fun at all levels below first team. Highly regarded by many in the game, he earned rave reviews on Match of the Day for his performance against Everton earlier in the season.
So why let him go?
Simply because I think the hype is disproportionate to the ability level. I think if you look at his touch, his awareness and his finishing it’s not that of a Premier League player, and I don’t think it’s at Championship level either. There is interest in him from Championship clubs though, and if we could get a few million for him, I think we could replace with better quality for less than we could potentially get.
I see no future where he scores goals for us in the PL or even comfortably holds down a starting spot as our striker in either league.
Retain while we are in the Championship only
- Jacob Sorenson
- Christoph Zimmermann
- Onel Hernandez
- Danel Sinani
- Rocky Bushiri
For various reasons I think these players could do a job for us in the Championship if needed and wouldn’t be bad to have around the place.
We know how versatile Sorensen is, and what a good lad also, and there’s probably no great resale value, so I’d keep him in the group. Similarly, Zimbo may not have the pace and mobility to mark the Salah’s and Mane’s of this world but he can cope with whatever the Championship can throw at him, and he’s a leader and a maintainer of high standards on and off the pitch.
Onel loves it here, we all love him, and although his end product might not be enough for the PL, we need his character and drive. Sinani and Bushiri are both on loan with options to buy so it depends on whether Hibs or Huddersfield want to keep them. But if not, I think both have done well enough to suggest that Dean Smith should at least have the chance to cast his eye over them.
Keep
- Tim Krul
- Angus Gunn
- Michael McGovern
- Aston Oxborough
- Jon McCracken
- Archie Mair
- Daniel Barden
- Sam Byram
- Grant Hanley
- Andrew Omobamidele
- Milot Rashica
- Jon Rowe
- Teemu Pukki
- Bali Mumba
- Josh Martin
- Sam McCallum
- Jonathan Tomkinson
- Flynn Clarke
- Liam Gibbs
- Regan Riley
- Tony Springett
- Abu Kamara
- Tom Dickson-Peters
- Daniel Adshead
- Matthew Dennis
The one department that we have in full working order is the goalkeepers. Andy Hughes will have his work cut out finding a home for the younger ones for next season but we have a good variety of options both experienced and less, queuing up to prove their worth. Whether we can afford to keep two valuable keepers in Krul and Gunn on the books next season is a question for the club to mull over, but either way, the goalkeeping department is fine.
Like Krul, the question with Hanley will be, does he have the fight for a third promotion push, having suffered another top-flight annus-horriblis? I don’t see that enormous 50p head dropping any time soon to be fair. I think both of the above are leaders and winners and will be more of a positive force in this league than we could hope to find elsewhere.
Omobamidele, Rowe, Mumba and McCallum are the future that is here now. They need to be embedded in the first team in August as they’re ready for Championship football.
Tomkinson, Clarke, Gibbs, Riley, Springett, Kamara, Dickson-Peters, Adshead and Dennis are all coming through nicely and should be in and around the first-team squad in pre-season. While I wouldn’t expect any of them to be ready to step up as regular starters, they should start to get some minutes from the bench or to go out on loan.
Byram is a fantastic defender, who, because of his injury history, you can’t really plan around having as a regular starter. If he becomes one, excellent, but he’s a nice option to have as you never know if he’ll be available, and you always have to have Plans B and C ready. With his ability to cover both full-back positions though, he’s a great option to have.
Rashica is the biggest unknown. Clearly too good for the Championship, two top-flight relegations in two seasons may put some potential buyers off and may persuade him that a season at a lower level where he can enjoy his football again might be more enjoyable than finding another new home.
Obviously, we’d love to keep Rashica but other than Aarons he’s the only valuable asset we have, so the right offer would have to be considered to help fund the rebuild.
Josh Martin clearly has talent, and if he can get his head right I can see a player that Dean Smith would enjoy working with. Could be a forgotten star to light us up.
I’ve seen plenty of people on social media suggesting that Pukki is done. While the end is approaching at his age, 53 goals in 84 Championship games isn’t something you can just replace without having a spare £20m in your pocket these days, which we don’t.
Dean Smith will find ways to get him chances and at Championship level, he’s lethal. We should look to add competition though, with the future in mind.
I think that while we have viable options in goal, in defence generally and on the wings, we need a huge overhaul in midfield, especially addressing the lack of a proper defensive midfielder (or two), and more competition for Pukki up front.
If we can bring through youngsters to do that, great, but I’m not sure we have the right options at quite the right level yet, so we may have to look outside.
It’s going to be a summer where the outgoings will have to happen first for us to afford some incoming, so brace yourself for a long window and plenty of stress.
Just like every day following Norwich.
Nine weeks, six days between the end of the 2021-22 Premier League campaign and the start of the 2022-23 Championship season. Not much time at all to get a revolution under way and find someone to take the likes of the over-valued Jordan Hugill off our hands.
Cannot disagree with a single word of your article Andy. We approach a new era, Farkeball is gone and now we need to offload the timid, the disinterested and not-quite-good-enough. If we are moving back to a more pragmatic style of football let’s have some pace, some players who can win the 50/50 balls, some nasty bastard players. No more Tim Krul chip outs to Max Aaron’s that have caused so much trouble for us in defence. If we truly are going to ditch Farkeball, then at least go all out and become the team that everybody hates instead of the team that everybody loves to scorn.
Pukki is 100% sure gone after this season. There is reasons why Norwich will not even try to take option for 1 year staying. First, there is no sense to try to keep a player who wants away. Second, he is too expensive player in championship. Turkish media have already reported that negotiations with Pukki and Norwich have failed some months a go, only possibility to option is that Norwich stays in premier league and still very unlikely. Teemu came as free transfer, Norwich let him leave free. Its fair and both sides respect each other. Norwich will not let him leave to other championship club, doubtfully he would not be interested about that either.
He go either after money or take ambitious challenge. If he goes after money and less ambitious option, he plays next in Turkey, MLS or China. Little possibility also to some arabic club and to japanese or korean league. Ambitious challenges are premier league, La Liga, Serie A, 1 club in bundesliga because there is obvious contacts and they are heading to something interesting. There is so many football people who have worked with him before, his history is not only Farke.
Giannoulis will leave too, likely also Zsolis which you likely have to loan. Normann might stay, depending what is situation in russian league next season.
Re Normann the rule that all contracts at Russian clubs for overseas players can be walked away from. Meaning he is free agent if he wants to be. With no fee a decent sign on fee could be offered.
If sides in the equation can agree he could be a city player. Form can be regained
Hi Andy, agree with all comments with the exception of Idah. I think he can potentially get some goals in the championship, let’s face it a reliable striker in the championship is going to cost 10-15m. Pukki has had his day and will be a year older. He netted in 17 games in the championship last season and will need assistance.
This season is a full gone conclusion, if I were Dean Smith I would be bringing the youngsters in now and seeing their levels in this league rather than staring from next season. You never now we may even see a performance worthy of this club?
I guess I would ask are you rebuilding a team to win the championship or a team to both win and be better prepared for the Prem if we do.
Anyway here are my challenges on the players you named
Dimitris Giannoulis – best left foot corss we have, decent going forward, Ialways wonder why we dont try him in midfield as he is a liability in defence. But I would probably sell
Christos Tzolis – I think his drop in form has hampered his external value to make it more sensible to give him a season in the championship to see if he can regain it
Pierre Lees-Melou – Will be a good bet in the championship, will have a lot more time than he does now
Kieran Dowell – Not a PL player but pretty effective in the Championship and could be useful against stacked defenses, I would keep him, besides i don’t see anyone paying for him or us having a ready-made replacement
Reece McAlear – Not doing too bad, 3 goals, 3 assists in the Scottish championship at 20 for a midfielder, I would keep him and test him at a higher level
Josh Sargent – I think he would love the championship, he has the athletic profile to do well, and at 22. Not a goal threat in the PL but a physical fast wing in the championship again with more shooting opportunities I think he can come good, still plenty of time to adapt to English football.
Adam Idah – Adam is my biggest disagreement here, I just think playing him as a lone striker doesn’t work. You are right his touch is suspect, but his finishing will improve. He reminds me a bit of Dom Solanke, who dominated at youth level when he was much bigger and stronger but then he had to adjust his game once he was no longer bigger than everyone else, I remember his finishing being pretty poor too, and now is at 22 goals this season.
Rocky Bushiri – I am 50/50 on him as he hasn’t had a full season anywhere yet, this half-season in Scotland will tell all I think
Onel and Daniel – I think one area where we have been relatively successful at producing young players has been wide forwards, if you keep Sergeant, Rashica, and Rowe, I think only one of these guys can stay, if Tzolis shows up in pre-season then neither.
Teemu – sentimentally I want one last hurrah from him but I wouldn’t begrudge him leaving
Josh Martin – has obvious talent but is struggling to impact games at Doncaster, he would need a real showing in pre-season for me, only 20 so another season on loan I think
Matthew Dennis – Yes he had a good run of goals a few months back but has slowed since and that is for a team in mid table of non league. Definitely needs another loan before he is ready
Hi Belgrade
I must confess I agree with you at every turn, particularly concerning Adam Idah who I know is very highly rated by RoI manager Stephen Kenny.
Danel Sinani has an option to buy clause at Huddersfield and I would expect them to exercise their right. Wouldn’t you?
Onel is different altogether. It depends whether Dean Smith wants him back or not.
*** Good assessment and a good read Andy.
You have done your homework there Andy.
I disagree strongly on Adam Idah, I would give him a chance for next season that’s for sure. Your criticisms of his play is valid though and he does need to improve but he has time on his side.
Tzolis I would surprisingly keep. Remember his performance against Bournemouth earlier in the season. He probably needs to drop down a level and a year at championship level may help him regain his confidence.. The Greek top league is not the EPL.
Pierre Lees-Melou will not be a starter probably but I think he has something about him at times so I would give him a go.
Normann despite not being as impressive as he was I would definitely keep if he is a free transfer. That is a no brainer. I just think he may get EPL offers.
A lot will depend on McCallum, Omobamidele, Martin etc progress.
Go to google and type in Norwich squad. I am really hopeful that one of the pictures there is a mistake and it is in fact meant to be Jonathan Rowe. Because I do not think, for two reasons, that former dart player John Lowe will help us upfront next season because he is like me somewhat “hefty” and is 76 years of age.😂
I’m not with the Idah thing I’m afraid – and I was at PNE when he got the hat-trick 2 years ago! Ball control seems very poor, even for Chump level, I’d prefer Hugill. Surely we can afford a decent League 1 or lower half of Chump proven scorer. The likes of Drinkall, and Biggins, did OK for us in times past, without even mentioning Lord Holty.
And I’m afraid my radio goes off as soon as UB40 come on…!
Hi Dan
UB40 was me yesterday rather than Andy H today.
Their first album was brilliant and everything thereafter was carp!
Kind of reminds me of a certain football team on promotion to the PL…….
If our model is to have any legitimacy at all we shouldn’t need to buy any players. We were in the Premier League and our stars in waiting should all be at least Championship level by now.
Our squad is huge. If we can’t field a promotion challenging side from what’s on the books, something has gone horribly wrong.
We have to hope that if the management and coaching staff stays in place with or without SW then once relegation is announced that preparation for next season gets under way..
Some players will have had enough of yo yoing and may ask to leave, others will go back to their parent clubs so they need sidelining
Those that are deemed to be the nuclearous of the squad should be given the last few games to define our style and blend into a team.
If the management structure is going to change that also needs to happen sooner than later so that all personnel can get use to one another and adapt to all changes 0ri9r to pre season.
Hi Andy
The biggest out should start at the top and go down to the manager IMHO
Actively seek to sell
Ben Gibson
Sadly not sure there would be much interest Burnly lost over £6m on him can city a similar loss not sure we can.
Przemyslaw Placheta
Can we afford as a club to write hin off, since joining us he has has a disrupted career from injuries and covid-19 but has show he has talent and gets more game time with his national team than at city just needs a manager to bring it out
Jordan Hugill
Why did we buy him from Wet Spam did SW see him as a cheap option to Jordan Rhodes, not in the same class but might find a home at Cardiff
Dimitris Giannoulis
Italian and Spanish clubs seem to be his next port of call if you believe the papers but maybe agent talk, he forms a good partnership with his countryman Tzolis at international level why hasn’t city used this.
Christos Tzolis
Had a poor start at city and maybe too much pressure on him at 19yrs old and DS telling him to forget his price again we need to see him in tandem with DG I think that Farke made reference to how they play and wanted that at.
Pierre Lees-Melou
Starting to show he can adapt to the English game could be an asset next season
Kenny McLean
Like the owners gone stale needs a new challenge
Kieran Dowell
A strange signing was never sure how he would fit in might get a profit
Reece McAlear
Doing well up at ICT maybe he could offer something in the championship but again will he get offers
Josh Sargent
I see potentially a big loss if sold, he has shown a few good touches and gives defences something to worry about so again let’s give him a chance to redeem himself
Adam Idah
Could or should have been loaned out for experience this season but then not many of our loaned players have had much game time.
Sinani, Bushiri, Famewo all have options to buy, Drmic will leave for free .
Drmic seem bad decisions were made, did we have a recall in January he might have helped us gain a few more points like a few others that were recruited over the last couple of years if they have a strong character and speak their mind they are trouble makers and upset the dressing room, surely we need someone that will upset the dressing room to get a reaction from the team.
Farke said what happens in the dressing room stays there but leaks happen yet city have no leaks only comments about how well they get on as a group.
Something smells of in the kitchen
The main problem as I see it is there just isn’t a queue of Premier League clubs waving cheque books desperate to sign any of City’s players. None of the squad proved they genuinely belong in the top division. (The exception being Max Aarons who would be a tidy PL squad addition for £10-£15M.)
That leaves selling to other Championship clubs (or below); none of whom will be climbing over each other to get a peep of what’s on the sales shelf. The other option is as you suggest for some players to return abroad. Aarons aside, I can’t see City raising more than £3M for any player this summer. So there won’t be a heap of Weally Weal Wonga available for a complete rebuild – and City can rare afford too many buying mistakes this time round. Smith & Smith & Co will have their work cut out to get us anywhere near a top 6 spot next season. Good luck to them.
Very thorough analysis Andy but a fair bit I don’t entirely agree with, especially your starting point.
We weren’t at all optimistic 2 years ago – on the contrary, there was much angst about the prospect that a team, having lost it’s last umpteen games and barely scored, would be so depressed it would be unable to recover. Aarons and several others would definitely be leaving. We were bound to head to league one again rapidly, and if crowds were allowed in ours would vote with their feet and stay at home. That’s how it seemed to be portrayed on here anyway.
What happened? We lost Lewis for silly money and Godfrey for a fair price, Emi sulked for a while and we made a slow start. But it all came right in the end because underneath it all we are a still a well-run club, were still able to make some useful signings, especially Skipp, and Webber’s no d***heads approach helps build a squad that works well together.
That last point is vital in the Championship; a lot of teams who do well unexpectedly do so as much on team spirit as on talent. The downside is that we don’t tend to attract a certain type of athletic goal machine with an ego the size of a planet and the ability to referee games whilst playing in them. Loathe them or hate them, they can be quite useful.
So decimating the squad – large as it is – is wholly unrealistic. The season starts on 30th July and there will be more midweek games than ever because of the World Cup. Gibson, Giannulous, McLean may disappoint in the PL, but they still have a lot of experience and I’d be very wary of losing them.
And you seriously want to say goodbye to Tzsolis and Sargent because they’ve failed to set alight the toughest league in the world? In any case Sargent, Rowe, and Rashica have improved enormously since Dean Smith arrived. My hunch is that Smith is better at developing these guys than Farke, but time will tell. I think Sargent could be a big threat in the second tier. I’m less convinced about Tszolis – possibly another near miss, like Placheta – but he’s got to be given a chance.
As for returning loanees, Martin failed at a leading League One club and is now with one going the wrong way; MacCullum has had a serious hamstring issue which must raise question marks about how fit he can stay. Mumba is benched at Peterborough, which probably tells us something we were hoping not to hear. Adshead, whom I feel has a lot of promise, is another hampered by injury. So whilst they may all have a chance to make their mark there’s no way we can assume they will be key members of the squad from the start.
No, we won’t have a large war chest, but we will still offer decent wages for the division, and our club record (and Smith’s personal one with both Brentford and Villa), and a full house come-what-may, surely make us a good prospect for any out-of-contract players we may be interested in. And we will presumably venture into the loans market again for an up-and-coming PL prospect – I’d lay good odds that Webber already has some names in the frame and may even have put out feelers.
The seismic change you speak of is needed not so much with specific personnel now, but more in the kind of team we build. Farke’s teams were perfect for the Championship, but Wilder’s Sheff U were much better set up to get a toehold in the PL, even if they did mess up in the second season. It won’t surprise me if he takes Boro up via the playoffs. The massive challenge for Smith is to find a way to play that both gets us up there AND has a fighting chance of staying there without major tweaking.
For me there are two key issues not so much for next season, but for the next time we get a shot at the big time (hopefully 22/23).
One is the much needed ball winner on a permanent, not loan, contract. That might turn out to be Normann, but it seems more likely that if he is a free agent he will have better offers, not necessarily in England.
Second is the kind of striker that can produce a moment of magic and turn a game on his own when we are up against it. That’s what most of our relegation rivals have got and we haven’t. The trouble is they cost a fortune that we haven’t got. We’re unlikely to bring one through the academy – in 60 years of supporting the club the only genuine “flair” player I can remember us producing is Craig Bellamy. The only way I can see it is through buying young, as we did with Fleck, and developing them. Perhaps that’s the thinking with Sargent – and to be fair he is the only one to have scored the sort of goal that takes your breath away – but there’s a way to go for him yet.
Nobody can confidently predict getting out of the Championship in the right direction, but if most of our current squad are still there – maybe with one or two good loans in place – I think will have a decent mixture of experience and developing talent to be a serious threat. Whether we get the bit of luck you always need, the freedom from injuries and the rub of the green re. decisions, remains to be seen.
I’d like to throw in Chris Sutton as a home grown striker. Scored goals every where other than Chelsea.
And Fashanu
Hi Keith
In terms of flair players who came through the Academy I think Darren Eadie might be worth a pretty loud shout?
The worst thing we can do is make major changes. I can’t see how getting rid of people is going to make us better. Several players have proved themselves at that level,let’s see what offers come in and get the best out of what is left.
Keith, completely agree with your comments. I read an interview with Josh Sargent and he made a comment that he had spoken to Tim Ream (Fulham) prior to the switch and TR’s feedback was it would take a year to find your feet and get settled as the football in England is like no other in the world. For him, and the other young lads who have come in at 19, 20, or 21 years old, it has, and possibly will continue to take time and may require even more time to settle in. Throw in a struggle as a team to be competitive, a massive expectation on the part of the supporters, and it all becomes overwhelming and a bit over the top. Will a year in the Championship (said he optimistically) be a good thing for their development, yes, without a doubt.
Well researched article, and some great replies.
Personally if all the players bought in the summer, we’re sold, we would show a massive loss.
Emi £35m plus around £15m has virtually been completely wasted. The person who signed all these transfers off, is the one to blame.
Think that person said we were paying for the sins of the past……..well I guess that’s come back to well and truly bite him on the bum.
So should he be let loose with what little there will be in the kitty this summer?
A good article, though I doubt the changes will be quite so radical. I’m hoping for a squad I can get behind much like the 98/99 mid table 2nd tier team, as I’m not expecting us to challenge for top 2. No complaints if we approach the levels of Eadie, Flemo, Llewelyn, Kenton and Ewan.
I think the scope and scale of any transfer activity will be dictated by the formation the Dean Smith wants to play. For me, Pukki is fundamentally unsuited to 4-3-3 – if Smith is to continue to play that formation, then perhaps don’t keep him. However, if Smith wants to play the 4-4-2 that bought us some success, then he becomes a valuable asset.
I think we will see more evolution than revolution, and that the main areas to be addressed are midfield and back up striker – someone with a decent goal threat. Merely returning the loaners leaves us short in the middle. McLean, for all his doubters, is more useful than the small fee he would attract.
As for defence, we have a back 4 who can all do a job in the Championship, with or without Aarons. Giannoulous may be worth cashing in on if a good fee comes along.
Overall, we will only have the money to bring in a small number of players and will have to target the money where we really need it, which precludes the wholesale clear out……for now at least!